Natives Land Act, 1913

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Natives Land Act, 1913
Coat of arms of South Africa (1910–1930).svg
Parliament of South Africa
Long title
CitationAct No. 27 of 1913
Enacted byParliament of South Africa
Royal assent16 June 1913
Commenced19 June 1913
Repealed30 June 1991
Administered byMinister of Native Affairs
Repealed by
Abolition of Racially Based Land Measures Act, 1991
Related legislation
Native Trust and Land Act, 1936
Status: Repealed

The Natives Land Act, 1913 (subsequently renamed Bantu Land Act, 1913 and Black Land Act, 1913; Act No. 27 of 1913) was an Act of the Parliament of South Africa that was aimed at regulating the acquisition of land. According to Britannica:[1] "The Natives’ Land Act of 1913 defined less than one-tenth of South Africa as Black “reserves” and prohibited any purchase or lease of land by Blacks outside the reserves. The law also restricted the terms of tenure under which Blacks could live on white-owned farms."

Overview[]

The Natives Land Act of 1913[2] was the first major piece of segregation legislation passed by the Union Parliament. It was replaced in 1991. The act decreed that natives were not allowed to buy land from whites and vice versa. Exceptions had to be approved by the Governor-General. The native areas left initially totaled less than 10% of the entire land mass of the Union, which was later expanded to 13%.[3]

The Act further prohibited the practice of serfdom or sharecropping. It also protected existing agreements or arrangement of land hired or leased by both parties.[5]

This land was in "native reserve" areas, which meant it was under "communal" tenure vested in African chiefs: it could not be bought, sold or used as surety. Outside such areas, perhaps of even greater significance for black farming was that the Act forbade black tenant farming on white-owned land. Since so many black farmers were sharecroppers or labor tenants that had a devastating effect, but its full implementation was not immediate. The Act strengthened the chiefs, who were part of the state administration, but it forced many blacks into the "white" areas into wage labor.[4]

Social and Economic impact[]

According to the paragraph 'The impact of the Land Act', in this reference:[5]

"Perhaps the most visible impact of the Act was that it denied Africans access to land which they owned or had been leasing from White farmers."

As outlined in the account of the deputation made to the then Minister of Justice of South Africa, Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer, in the paragraph 'Responses to the Land Act' of the same reference:[6]

"Also in May 1913 the SANNC sent a deputation to Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer to persuade him to not proceed with the bill which would make Africans squatters and render them homeless."

Responses[]

The opposition was modest but vocal. John Dube used his newspaper to create an issue. As president of what would become the African National Congress, he supported whites like William Cullen Wilcox, who had created the Zululand Industrial Improvement Company. That had led to them supplying land to thousands of black people in Natal.[7] Dube was one of six people who were sent to Britain to try to overturn the law once it came into force in South Africa.[8]

A viewpoint somewhat irreconcilable with the view expressed in the preceding paragraph, is that expressed in the paragraph 'Responses to the Land Act ' in this South African History Online reference:[9] "The Natives Land Act sparked fierce opposition particularly by Black African people..." The paragraph goes on to outline criticism of the Act, followed by organised protests: "Between 28 February and 26 April 1913 African leaders continued criticism of the Land Bill in columns of newspapers. However, this changed dramatically after the first reading of the bill on 25 February. Protest meetings were organised in various parts of the country. On 9 May the first major protest meeting was organised by the SANNC at the Masonic Hall in St. James, Cape Town." Furthermore, there was the deputation to Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer, as already mentioned in the paragraph entitled 'Impact' above.

Sol Plaatje traveled to Britain with the SANNC (later the African National Congress) to protest against the Natives Land Act but to no avail. He collected transcripts of court deliberations on the Natives Land Act and testimonies from those directly subject to the act in the 1916 Book Native Life in South Africa.[10]

Political ironies[]

Much political irony surrounded the Act:

  • The minister at the time of its introduction, J.W. Sauer, was a Cape Liberal who opposed disenfranchisement of blacks. He, however, advocated for "separate residential areas for Whites and Natives" in the Parliamentary debate on the bill.
  • John Tengo Jabavu, a prominent "educated African" welcomed the Act,[11][12][13] but Merriman[citation needed] and Schreiner[citation needed] opposed the Act on principle.[14][15][16]

Reflections[]

References[]

  1. ^ "[1], www.britannica.com, accessed 29 March 2021
  2. ^ "19 June 1913 Native Land Act Archived 14 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine", This day in history, publish date unknown (accessed 20 December 2007).
  3. ^ Collins, Robert O. and James M. Burns: A History of Sub-Saharan Africa, p. 346. Cambridge University Press, 2007
  4. ^ Talley, Clarence R.; Cotton, Bernard (20 May 2019), "Minority Concentration and Black-White Inequality in U.S. Labor Market Areas", Inequalities in Labor Market Areas, Routledge, pp. 237–255, doi:10.4324/9780429042416-13, ISBN 978-0-429-04241-6
  5. ^ [2], SAHistory.org.za, accessed 29 March 2021
  6. ^ [3], SAHistory.org.za, accessed 29 March 2021
  7. ^ "Zuma: Address by the President of South Africa, at the 100 year celebration conference of the women's organisation of the united congregational church of Southern African KZN region (31/03/2012)". polity.org.za. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  8. ^ Natives Land Act, SAHistory.org.za, accessed 1 August 2013
  9. ^ [4], SAHistory.org.za, accessed 29 March 2021
  10. ^ Plaatje, Sol (1916). Native life in South Africa before and since the European War and the Boer rebellion. London: PS King. ISBN 0582785898.
  11. ^ Gershoni, Yekutiel (1997). "The South African Liberal Movement and the Model of the American South". In Gershoni, Yekutiel (ed.). Africans on African-Americans. Africans on African-Americans: The Creation and Uses of an African-American Myth. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 145–175. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-25339-5_7. ISBN 978-1-349-25339-5.
  12. ^ Beinart, William; Delius, Peter (4 July 2014). "The Historical Context and Legacy of the Natives Land Act of 1913". Journal of Southern African Studies. 40 (4): 667–688. doi:10.1080/03057070.2014.930623. ISSN 0305-7070.
  13. ^ Walshe, A. P. (1969). "The Origins of African Political Consciousness in South Africa". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 7 (4): 583–610. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00018851. ISSN 0022-278X. JSTOR 159153.
  14. ^ Feinberg, Harvey M. (1993). "The 1913 Natives Land Act in South Africa: Politics, Race, and Segregation in the Early 20th Century". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 26 (1): 65–109. doi:10.2307/219187. ISSN 0361-7882. JSTOR 219187.
  15. ^ see C.F.J Muller (ed), 500 Years, History of South Africa as well as references therein
  16. ^ "Home | Digital Collections". digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved 1 June 2021.

[1]Bibliography[]

L.M. Thompson, A History of South Africa!

External links[]

  1. ^ Mukherjee, Arun P. (January 1990). "Whose post‐colonialism and whose postmodernism?". World Literature Written in English. 30 (2): 1–9. doi:10.1080/17449859008589127. ISSN 0093-1705.
Retrieved from ""